Russian armed forces to get supercomputer

The computer will be able to perform 1.2x10 to the 15th degree operations per second. Source: PhotoXpress

The capabilities of such a supercomputer will allow most full-scale or “live” tests to be replaced by computer-based modelling.

The introduction of various sanctions
against Russia by the West has produced an interesting side-effect: Domestic
industry is seeing a revival and the country has begun to actively seek out
alternatives to replace imported components, including in the most high-tech
sectors.

In Fryazino, a town outside Moscow, a
computer with a processing power of 1.2 petaflops is being developed. That is,
it will be able to perform 1.2x10 to the 15th degree operations per second. Few
such powerful computers exist in the world today.

According to Andrei Zverev, director
general of the Roselektronika holding company, which is carrying out the
project, the main distinctive feature of the computer being developed is that
its critical component base, including processors, will consist of products
developed in Russia. During the initial phase, the production of components and
microelectronics for the supercomputer may be located in Southeast Asia, but
all the intelligent components will belong to Russia.

Andrei Zverev says that the Russian
supercomputer will have sufficient power for all the calculations which need to
be made in the interests of the Russian military-industrial complex. The
capabilities of the supercomputer will allow most full-scale or “live” tests to
be replaced by computer-based modeling, which will significantly reduce the
time needed for trials and significantly reduce the costs involved.

As United Aircraft Corporation
President Mikhail Pogosyan told a correspondent
from Rossiyskaya Gazeta, computer simulation has provided an opportunity
to significantly shorten and reduce the cost of the design cycle and flight
tests for a prototype of the fifth-generation T-50 fighter. In the near future,
test runs on supercomputers will become standard practice for the developers of
national military technology.

Russia is seeking maximum import
substitution, especially in aerospace engineering. According to Andrei Zverev,
if global sanctions are introduced against Russia, this will not hamper the
country’s technological progress but rather have the opposite effect, although
this would require additional investment. In any case, in three or four years
from now, the national radio electronic industry will be capable of producing
up to 90 percent of the total payload for Russia’s military and civil
satellites at its own facilities within the country.

The country is concurrently
witnessing a trend towards the optimization and unification of components.

For instance, at present up to 20,000
different types of parts can be used on board a domestic spacecraft. In
contrast, at the European Space Agency just 1,000 types of electronic component
parts are permitted for use on board.